[compost_tea] Re: Compost Tea Brewing Q

From: jgerha <jasongerhardt_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:23:08 -0000

Also, Dr. Ingham confirms that she suspects reducing the scale of brewing s=
ystems to 1 gallon quantities and a 1/2 cup or so of compost with a small a=
mount of added food, be it molasses, oatmeal, kelp, would reduce the risk o=
f anaerobic conditions in the tea. This is using a small aquarium pump. I=
 would think this needs SLA testing, and will probably perform that researc=
h, but it is in-line with shrinking the scale of most things agricultural t=
o reduce the amount of risk and harm. Mostly, I am interested in developin=
g a pattern that can be replicated by small home gardeners of effective com=
post tea brewing, where people can make their own compost or vermicompost, =
and make their own affordable brewer that has the science to back it up.

Jason

--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "jgerha" <jasongerhardt_at_...> wrote:
>
> Hello All,
> Thanks for the many responses. Tim, I found your site full of info and r=
ead through it all. You have done amazing amounts of research, thank you f=
or freely sharing!
>
> I ended up writing directly to Dr. Ingham and got an answer a few minutes=
 ago. First off, the article is nearly 15 years old, which helps me to kno=
w that tons of research has been done since then (there was no date on the =
article itself). Elaine answered that she doesn't recommend adding sugar ba=
sed "food" to tea because most small brewers don't have the capacity to aer=
ate it well enough to allow it to develop past aerobic fungi, protozoa, etc=
. She also said, most of her research since the fine gardening article has=
 shown that we already have high enough bacterial populations in most soils=
 and compost (unless intensive biocide application has occurred) and what w=
e are lacking is the fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and microarthropods. Ther=
efore, most garden systems need to be inoculated with these microbes, not n=
ecessarily bacteria. This makes sense to me.
>
> I am still at a loss for one aspect of this, and I realize I didn't expla=
in it well enough in the first post. I am interested in the longer term of=
 nutrient allocation and availability and have come across information abou=
t anaerobic microbes being a necessary part of nutrient storage in soils vi=
a the ethylene cycle, where anaerobes actually hold nutrients back from pla=
nt availability which has been theorized is a beneficial function of soils =
to maintain fertility over the long-term. Most soils will have pockets of =
both anaerobic conditions and aerobic conditions. When thinking in terms o=
f till-based gardening we are encouraging aerobic conditions via the contin=
uous addition of oxygen inducing tillage, but as we know long-term this dep=
letes soils over time. I am interested in whether it is actually beneficia=
l to maintain a healthy population of anaerobes in the soil and thus in our=
 compost teas.
>
> Long, not entirely informed, question short, has there been a lot of rese=
arch done on looking at anaerobes from a beneficial standpoint? I wonder i=
f the research has been skewed more towards aerobic microbes since that is =
how we treat soils generally through various forms of agriculture (i.e. til=
lage). When it comes to compost tea, I then wonder, what is so bad about h=
aving a few extra anaerobes? Is there a healthy balance? Or in a tea brew=
ing situation perhaps it goes too far toward anaerobes once headed in that =
direction.
>
> This is getting complex, but I would be interested to know others thought=
s.
>
> Jason
>
>
> --- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "wormlady" <whitemountainworms_at_> wrot=
e:
> >
> >
> > I'd be interested in the answer to that myself.
> >
> >
> > --- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt_at_> wro=
te:
> > >
> > > Hi All,
> > > I am new to this group, and joined mostly to stay up to date on the l=
atest
> > > research into compost tea brewing. I have one question that perhaps
> > > someone can answer. Does anyone know if Elaine Ingham endorses the w=
ay she
> > > suggested brewing compost tea in the this article in Fine Gardening
> > > magazine at this site:
> > > http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/brewing-compost-tea.aspx
> > >
> > > There is no date on the article so I am unsure if it is disproven by =
recent
> > > research. I simply want the best, least expensive way to brew consis=
tent
> > > small batch compost tea. I saw the above article, saw that Elaine wr=
ote
> > > it, therefore trusted it, and already went ahead and bought all the
> > > materials before doing further research. I don't really want to buy =
oxygen
> > > meters and spend hundreds on testing batches taken from multiple poin=
ts in
> > > the brewing process. I suppose I might if I have to, but I am hoping=
 there
> > > is a straightforward 5-gal bucket method that doesn't require too muc=
h
> > > research work. My hope is that the risk for harm is higher in larger=
 scale
> > > brewing, and minimized at the small-scale.
> > >
> > > Any thoughts, anyone?
> > >
> > > Jason
> > >
> >
>




Received on Thu Dec 01 2011 - 21:23:11 EST

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